The Peter Morrison Report, By Peter Morrison
Recently, I discussed the lawsuit brought by the federal government against Arizona's SB 1070. Based on Judge Susan Bolton's remarks during the trial, I was optimistic that she was going to rule in favor of Arizona's right to defend itself from invasion.
Many pundits and commentators made the same prediction, but Bolton threw us a curve ball, basically invalidating SB 1070. In light of the ruling, Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu said: "Our own government has become our enemy and is taking us to court at a time when we need help."
Sheriff Babeu is right, and unelected federal judges are a huge part of the problem. The SB 1070 ruling is only the tip of the iceberg. Federal judges are increasingly using their power to overthrow the will of the people and impose their leftist views on the entire nation.
Just a few days after Bolton's ruling, another federal judge declared California's ban on same-sex "marriage" unconstitutional. This outrageous ruling by an openly homosexual judge not only flies in the face of thousands of years of common sense and universal religious teachings, it also declared that the ban on same-sex marriage is based on nothing but irrational prejudice.
Many conservatives are confident that the ruling will be overturned on appeal, but this is by no means certain. Many experts believe a US Supreme Court ruling would come down to a 5-4 vote, with Justice Kennedy being the tie breaker. Kennedy has written several opinions strongly favoring the homosexual agenda; many believe he would use this case to become a "civil rights" hero, as he's expected to be retiring soon and wants to leave a legacy. It's quite possible that in the very near future a Supreme Court ruling could throw out all state laws against homosexual "marriage."
We can't look to the GOP establishment for any help. Vaughn Walker, the judge who just invalidated Proposition 8, was appointed by George H.W. Bush. Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, who supports the homosexual agenda, was appointed by Ronald Reagan. One of the lawyers who brought the suit against Proposition 8 is Ted Olson, George Bush's lawyer during the 2000 recount, who went on to become Bush's Solicitor General. When California Attorney General Jerry Brown refused to defend Proposition 8 in court, California's GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger then refused to appoint anyone to defend it, and private parties had to intervene to make the case for traditional marriage. Even now, in the immediate aftermath of the ruling, Republican politicians are noticeably silent on the issue.
Even many conservatives seem to have given up this fight. If so, that's simply because they don't understand how high the stakes are. This same sex "marriage" battle isn't simply about giving two men the right to play husband and wife, as disgusting as that is. What's at stake is our very freedom to practice and live by our religious conviction that homosexuality is deeply immoral, and that marriage is only between a man and woman.
Radical leftists pushing the homosexual agenda scoff at this, saying that no one is going to force a pastor to perform any wedding he doesn't want to, but that's a red herring. There's a whole lot more to religious freedom than not being forced to perform same-sex "weddings", and historically in America, when "civil rights" clash with religious liberty, religious liberty is the loser. As Maggie Gallagher, head of the National Organization for Marriage, says about an America where same-sex "marriage" has become a civil right: "People of faith will increasingly be treated like racists or bigots in the public square; not only by public opinion, but by the law."
This isn't just speculation; Christians are already being punished in many states for their views on homosexuality, and are being forced to choose between their faith and their livelihood.
In California, a fertility specialist declined to give a lesbian couple IVF treatments because of his conviction that homosexuality is immoral. The lesbians sued, and the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the doctor had violated their civil rights. In New Mexico a wedding photographer turned down an offer to photograph a lesbian "commitment ceremony" on religious grounds. The lesbian couple sued, calling themselves victims of "hatred": "There was a shock and anger and fear. ... We were planning a very happy day for us, and we're being met with hatred." The NM Human Right Commission agreed. They found the photographer guilty of illegal discrimination and ordered her to pay nearly $7000 to the "victims" to cover their legal fees.
In both California and Massachusetts, Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to shut their doors after being ordered to allow same-sex "couples" to adopt. In Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a Christian group lost its tax exemption for refusing to host a homosexual ceremony. In Mississippi, a mental health counselor was fired because she didn't want to counsel a patient about her lesbian relationship, because she views homosexuality as a sin. The counselor sued, but courts upheld her firing. Just a few days ago yet another federal judge ruled that Eastern Michigan University didn't violate a young lady's rights when it expelled her from a graduate counseling course for refusing to affirm homosexual conduct. In New York, Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine was ordered to allow same-sex "couples" to live in dormitories for married couples.
I could recite even more cases where the homosexual agenda has already trampled on religious liberties in various states, but there are far too many cases to describe here. If homosexual "marriage" is ever declared the law of the land, these sorts of cases won't just be happening in a few states; they'll be taking place all over America.
Radical homosexuals will sue lawyers, insurance agents, bed and breakfast owners, caterers, wedding planners, florists and anyone else who refuses to serve homosexual "couples" on religious grounds. Christians' colleges and universities will be ordered to drop their ban on homosexual relationships or lose their tax exemptions, just as Bob Jones University lost its tax exemption back in 1984 for banning interracial dating.
Christians and conservatives should be up in arms. If homosexual marriage becomes the law of the land, religious freedom will be dead. Evangelical Christians and other people with traditional morals will be treated as if we're members of the Ku Klux Klan for refusing to "celebrate" something that was a crime in most states just a few years ago.
This should terrify every conservative in America. Don't just take my word for it. Listen to Chai Feldblum. Not only is she one of the top legal experts in the country on the interaction and tension between "civil rights" and religious liberties, she is also Obama's latest appointee to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. Here's what she wrote in a law journal a few years ago:
"Just as we do not tolerate private racial beliefs that adversely affect African-Americans in the commercial arena, even if such beliefs are based on religious views, we should similarly not tolerate private beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity that adversely affect LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] people."["Moral Conflict and Liberty: Gay Rights and Religion" Brooklyn Law Review 2006.]
That's the fate that awaits us if we don't stand up to this ongoing judicial tyranny—not even our "private beliefs" will be tolerated. At some point we've got to take a stand and say enough is enough, and we're not going to take it anymore.
As far as I'm concerned, that time is now. It's time to start saying no to these unelected federal tyrants in robes. If millions of us don't start doing that right away, the game will soon be over, and we'll be paying fines and losing our jobs for refusing to treat a disgusting perversion as the equal to holy matrimony.
These federal judges have gone too far, and it's time to start calling these rulings by their right name—treason.
Peter Morrison (email him) is a businessman living in Lumberton, Texas with his wife and four children. He currently serves on the Lumberton ISD School Board and as treasurer of the Hardin County Republican Party. He says "I believe deeply in the principles of limited constitutional government, the sanctity of life and that our state and nation should be run under Thomas Jefferson's principle of 'Equal Rights for All, Special Privileges for None.'" This article is from his free newsletter, which features commentary about current events of interest to Texans—sign up here.
